So did I. Yet they still seem to get more from their gardens than I do. I don't have the big rocks you are trying to deal with, but my field laid fallow for 40 years and I had to have the trees cut and stumps removed. That was in 2009, and I am just starting to see earthworms in my soil. In hindsight I should have grown cover crops for a few years, to get some organic matter back into the soil.
Grading Clean up and grade (?) a wooded lot with Loads-A-Rocks . . .
- Thread starter joea99
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JLH4
Silver Member
I have been small plot farming/gardening most of the last 70 years and used raised beds quite often. My wife and I now have 12 4x8 raised beds producing a lot of fruit and vegetables which we can, freeze, dry and give to the kids/grand kids. A 24x16 work shed sits on 28 tons of gravel. That is how we do it on this rocky and clay Kentucky hilltop. We did have to bring in a load of topsoil(?) and we compost everything we can to supplement to raised beds. The initial cost was a little high, but it has paid off over the last 15 years.
You can even put junk wood (trees, not lumber) in the bottom of your raised beds before putting soil in, and just build the sides a little taller. It will rot down pretty quickly.
Do you have wooden sides? If so, how often do you have to replace them?
amhicks21
Silver Member
I built a rock bucket out of a worn out skidsteer bucket and 1" rebar for practically nothing about 10 years ago and have probably used it on 100 boulder jobs since. Im not sure if it would work well to do something like that on something as small as a b21 though. you have to shake the bucket around quite a bit to get the dirt to fall through and i dont think your tractor would handle that like a skid does. It might work well to find or build a rock screener with just rebar set up at an angle though. You can start with a cheap old trailer and weld the rebar off the side so the rock goes in the trailer and the dirt falls back to the ground and then tow the trailer off to dump in a pile somewhere. If you want really perfect soil, you could rent a vibratory screener if you can find one locally but you'd want to pick out any rocks bigger than around 12" so not to cause damage. I started making topsoil to recycle the lawn and landscape waste we bring in at work a few years ago. Since I screen down to 1/2" I can make 10-12 yards per hour but if you're only screening to 1" you should be able to get through 20 yards or more per hour but im not really sure with a tractor that size. As others have said, getting the ground broke up and dried out to a point where you can actually mechanically sort anything is the real trick. This is my little setup.
jyoutz
Super Member
You cannot make good soil from a rock pile. I agree with hauling in good topsoil and spreading it about 8-12” thick where you want to garden.
jyoutz
Super Member
I have great soil (clay loam, no rocks). I started my garden field 16 years ago and have been adding organic materials annually. Initially, I plowed, then planted oats. Before the oats ripened, I tilled the green stalks under the soil. A cheap and quick way to add organic material.
After my field was cleared I broadcasted winter rye. The turkeys loved it! They started on one end of my field and over the course of a week or more, stripped it clean. Every night I would go up and see the line where they had stopped.
The following year I tried oats. That was a waste of time and money. So I bought buckwheat... that came up but was short and anemic.
For my vegetable garden I bought manure or compost every year, and would put some with every plant. I also planted lots of beans, mostly to turn them under. Last year I started digging into the stump piles, which contained the top layer of topsoil. After 12 years the stumps have mostly rotted down, so hopefully I'm adding organic matter back into the garden.
jyoutz
Super Member
I have heard that rye exudes a root chemical that discourages growth of other plant species. If oat’s didn’t work, barley is easy to seed, but whatever you use, till it under before the seeds ripen, or you will just be introducing more weed competition for your garden crops.
The rye didn't take... the turkeys cleaned it up like a starving man at a buffet. When they stumped the field a layer of topsoil came iwth it. Even before then though, the ground was so barren that I am just starting to see earthworms.